4 Mar 2015

Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers has dropped Lazar Markovic for tonight's Premier League clash with Burnley, and judging by the players selected, it looks like Raheem Sterling could be in for a change of position.

* Gerrard and Sakho are not in the squad, so they're either not fit yet, or being rested.

* Lovren retains his place in central defence, and hopefully he'll continue his improved performances.

* Selecting Sterling, Lallana, Coutinho, and Sturridge in the same team means that one of those four will be playing at right wing-back, and the most obvious choice is Sterling, who has played there before.

-------------------- Mignolet

----- Can --------- Skrtel -------- Lovren

--- Sterling --- Allen - Hendo ----- Moreno

------------- Lallana --- Coutinho

------------------ Sturridge

* Alternatively, there's also a possibility that Rodgers may revert to the dreaded 4231 formation to accommodate that quartet. One option:

-------------- Mignolet

Can ---- Skrtel ---- Lovren ------ Moreno

---------- Allen --- Hendo

Sterling ---- Coutinho ---- Lallana

------------- Sturridge

* 442 or 4411 is also an option:

-------------- Mignolet

Can ---- Skrtel ---- Lovren ------ Moreno

Coutinho - Allen --- Hendo --- Lallana

-------- Sterling

----------- Sturridge

The 343 formation is a key factor in Liverpool's resurgence this year, so it seems counter-productive to change things now, so I expect to see Sterling at RWB.

It'll also be interesting to see how Danny Ings performs against his (possible) future club.

38 comments:

I'm pretty sure Lallana will be playing in the WB spot. Rodgers just said in a recent interview that Sterling over there did not work and Lallana played there against City and West Ham in the later stages. I think it will be Sterling with Coutinho behind Danny.

Is RWB becoming more of a priority signing?..............Danilo in the summer?

From what I've seen and heard about him he seems the ideal type of player for our current system (Daniel Alves type player). Whether he is actually good enough or whether that position is priority is open for debate.

Obviously the likes of Markovic and Ibe who've played RWB are players that usually play further up the pitch, so this signing would release them and maybe give us more balance with Moreno on the left.

For the above reasons a new RWB could be a great idea. However that would potentially mean Coutinho, Lallana, Sterling, Ibe and Markovic for the two 'in the hole' positions. Then again strong competition for places is a good thing.

Flanagan's return could offer an other option for the RWB role if ha come back at the level he was playing before his injury, would give the opportunity for Markovic to challenge for a more forward role.

Most probably, but I want the same speed of movement and energy to the play, We have to be a bit cute move the ball well and draw them out. An early goal like we often did last season would not go amiss. Come on the toon also.

Henderson making a solid case for long term captain. He's playing in the traditional Stevie G role, getting Stevie G assists and scoringthe long range Stevie Ggoals. He even did the Stevie G kner slide. I suspect the new club doctor has done some kind of football brain transplant. Nothing wrong with Stevie's hamstring, it's just now attached to a vegetable.

I don't want a return to Rafa's boring Football after enjoying the more attack mind brand of Brendan Rodgers. True that Brendan had a terrible start to the season largely due to the system he played but Van Gaal has hardly been much more successful at Man Utd despite having spent much more in the summer. It seems to be more of a case of Rafa hoping that he will one day return then the owners wanting him back after all if they did not sack Brendan when he was doing poorly why would they when Liverpool's form has greatly improved??. It's time for Rafa to get over his obsession with Liverpool, even if and when Brendan leaves I don't want Rafa back in the Anfield hot seat because I detest his boring and negative style of play. My only concern will Brendan at the moment is his inability to attract the real top stars that we keep missing out on, then again whose to say we'd get them if someone else was in charge? Hindsight is a wonderful thing! We must persevere with Brendan instead of changing manager after every few seasons, I said this even at the start of the reason when we were struggling. The owners have never indicated that they want Rafa back, it's just our former manager having hallucinations!! We will win the FA Cup leading Brendan to stay after all he just signed a long term contract a few months back. Support Brendan!

Yes, Rafa will be returning to Liverpool THE CITY after he is done at Napoli. It's his home. His family is there. Good for him for not prioritizing football over his family, I assume they are hugely important to him. As for his coaching career I would guess he'll be available to work in England but he wont want to travel too far. He may even consider a Championship gig if location is really so important. Wigan and Leeds need a bit of a revival. I think it would be a good reflection on Rafa the man if he took a job like that.

Rodgers will unquestionably be at Liverpool FOOTBALL CLUB next season.

Yes, but Çan has been nothing short of magnificent also. When Sakho gets healthy a back three of Çan, Skrtel, and Sakho will be fun to watch. Lovren put my heart in my throat in the second half once but other than that he was ok. Çan going forward to play DM would be a good idea also.

It's not a nice feeling watching Lovren. Hopefully he'll get past this phase, he's a much better player than he looks right now. He needs to cut out the silly mistakes and perhaps consider just being a no-nonsense type of defender. If all else fails just hump the ball up the pitch.

So I've had the night to let yesterday's performance to sink in and I have a few points I would like to share:

- Joe Allen. I give praise where praise is due so well done Joe Allen for your recent performances. He has been a victim of his price tag and BR constant over hyping as well as injuries. We need to appreciate what Allen does, he is our Fletcher so to speak, a player that gets the job done but is rarely mentioned. Allen is not someone who will give you goals and assists regularly but he is a good player at what he does. We could easily find a player that does his role better and contributes goals and assists and we will but as a squad/rotation player is is good.

- Steven Gerrard. It would be both negligent and ludicrous to put him straight back into the team specially when we are doing so well. Let him earn back his place like every other player. I know he is leaving us but this happens to every player and we need to stop making decisions based on emotion. He will play a part, especially off the bench and in the FA cup but we have a settled team, so let's not mess that up.

- Sturridge. I'm very pleased at how BR has handled him. Coming off the bench and not taking risks with him. We all know what he is capable of and it's just unfortunate he is injury prone. This summer we need to buy a really good forward as we no longer can rely on Sturridge but he will always be a good player coming from the bench or starting when he's fit.

-Sterling. He was giving that Burnley defender nightmares, but he still lacks a certain football maturity but that's normal. I think BR will need to find his permanent position in the team, but for a 20yo playing so many different positions is great for his development. He will be a 15 goal/10 assists per season player before he turns 24!

-Can. Wonderful prospect, wish we had played him more from the beginning. Impresses more in defence than midfield at the moment but it's a great learning curve for him! He did play a few misplaced passes but in general it was great!

- Coutinho. Dominant! How many runs did we see him do yesterday? He just needs to continue with this form and I know before he is 25 he is going to be on another level.

-Skrtel. Boss. That's the Skrtel I know!

-Mignolet. What a journey this season. Has the rest of the team improved he improved also. Has been really good recently. But we still need another keeper though. His shooting is really poor. He dwells on the ball too much and everytime he kicks the ball we lose possession, specially from goal kicks. We need a sweeper keeper.

-Lallana. Played really well, nice flicks and turns and pressed well too. He is a luxury player we never really needed but he is really useful. Unlucky with injuries.

-Hendo. He is a good player and I often struggle to see what he brings to the team apart from the obvious qualities he has but yesterday he combined his physical ability with technique and his goal and assist were superb! Gerrard really kicked into top class players form during the 2004/05 season so we need to appreciate that Hendo is still a young head. He won't be our next Gerrard but will be great servant to the team.

- Lovren. Victim of poor form, high transfer fee and over expectation from us. Needs a season to settle and will be a good player for us. Let's give him time.

- Moreno. We don't appreciate it him enough but he is a tidy little player. Needs to assist more specifically in his more attacking role.

Over all a good performance although we lost the blue in the second half a lot. Credit to Burnley as well as they were good foes and played well till the end. Ings may be a good back up option.

I never thought this news would actually make it on to this site :-) Seems very unlikely to me. I still think Rodgers has wasted too much money in the transfer market but you have to give credit where it's due. He's turned around our fortunes in a spectacular way and that is a very important quality in a manager.

cant see it happening at the momment with the run we are in... no manager has a 100% hit rate with signing players, and of late some of brendans signings have shown to be quite good buys so yeah onwards and upwards brendan and liverpool

Rodgers hasn't proven anything yet! he has never won a trophy, and at LFC winning trophies is what we are measured by, not only that but Champions League is a must!! and I mean every year!! Deliver that, and he is our man for the foreseeable future, if not, on your way pal, FSG will be ruthless, and Rodgers knows it, target for this season is top 4, it remains the same now as it has at any stage this season,